


Loose Ends

by VanillaMostly



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Pre-Canon, Robert's Rebellion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-06-02 01:56:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6545791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanillaMostly/pseuds/VanillaMostly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU: Lyanna survives childbirth and goes to meet the man who fought a war for her. It's time they had a proper talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loose Ends

 

After he clutched her to him for a long, long time, he released her. Through bleary-red eyes he seemed to have lost all ability to speak. Finally he managed to croak, hoarsely, “ _Lya._ ”

She pulled back, and tried to do so gently.

Lyanna had asked everyone who had escorted her to leave, so that she would be alone with her former betrothed. This even included Ned. As he left, she could see the glimmer of worry in his eyes, and she knew he would not be far away outside the chamber, listening for cues to rush in.

Lyanna had noted that Ned and Robert had not acknowledged the other during the brief meeting, but that would be their thing to settle.

“Robert,” she said, “listen—I have a lot to explain.” She wet her lips, running a hand through her hair. “So much has happened and, gods, where do I—”

Robert was staring at her, dazed. She wondered if he absorbed a single word she’d said, and soon he confirmed that he hadn’t.

“That bastard,” he said, rage taking his features like a dark storm. “I killed him at the Trident and in my dreams a thousand times, but it will never be enough.”

“This isn’t about Rhaegar.”

“How— _how!_ How can you speak the name of that—that—”

Robert could not seem to find words despicable enough to describe the dead prince.

“He _took_ you away! He forced you—he—”

Lyanna made her voice strong and loud to overtake his. “No, Robert, he _didn’t_ , alright?”

He fell silent, watching her.

“I left with him of my free will.”

“Did he tell you to say that?”   

Her mouth twisted. Somehow she was not surprised by this reaction.

“No, Robert. Nobody tricked me, nobody controlled me. _I_ decided it. Even if it was stupid, it was my choice, because I _can_ make choices for myself, do you see?”

He stared at her, stunned. She made herself stare back, chin raised high and defiant.

A million emotions passed over Robert’s face before he sank to the bed, as if struck in the knees by his own hammer.

Lyanna knew he was in heavy need for a drink. She herself too, come to think of it.

“W- _why?”_

He whispered it.

Here was where Lyanna felt herself deflating. She sat down beside Robert, rubbing a hand over her eyes, and stared at her feet for a long moment.

“I—I don’t really know. I was… looking for a way out, I suppose.”

Robert did not interrupt. She did not look at him.

“It… it was right after Harrenhal, and Brandon was going to marry Catelyn and then I was going to marry you and—and I…”

 _I didn’t want to,_ she thought, but she still found that too hard to say aloud, to the man next to her, not when she could feel his eyes burning into her like that.

“He promised to hide me somewhere,” she continued. “He said it was to protect me from his father.” She thought it better not to delve into the Laughing Tree thing. “And it was so fast, I didn’t have time to think—”

“Did you love him?”

Robert’s voice was hollow.

Lyanna felt hot tears rise up, but she swallowed them away. “Does it matter?”

She could not bring herself to say, _either way, I did not love you, did I?_

Only this time she had a feeling he heard her thoughts anyway. She bit her lips till she tasted blood.

They spent forever in silence, it felt like, sitting on the same bed, but what could have been a thousand leagues, what could have been the Dothraki sea between them.

At last it was Robert who broke the silence, and what he said sent her heart dropping to the ground:

“That child is yours, isn’t it. You and Rhaegar’s.”

She whirled to look at Robert. She was sure her face was the color of ice chips on the Wall.

Robert only smiled at her, bitter-like.

“I should have known,” said Robert. “Ned would never sire a bastard.”

Lyanna thought of Jon, who was with the wet nurse right now, under careful protection of Howland Reed… but if—

“Lya,” said Robert. “Look at me.”

She focussed back on Robert, with difficulty.

“Do you truly think I would hurt your child?” he asked. “Even… even if it is _his?”_

“You killed Rhaegar’s other children.”

“I didn’t kill them. That was Tywin Lannister’s work.”

“But you let him, didn’t you? You’d rather he did it than you.”

Robert’s face turned wooden. “You’re just like Ned.”

Lyanna looked away, shutting her eyes.

“I… I didn’t come here today to pick a row, Robert. You have your sins, and I have mine.”

She thought of Brandon and Father, of Princess Elia and all the others, and for the umpteenth time wanted to scream and rake her nails on her skin.

She drew a deep breath.

“I just came to… speak my side. There were some things I should have been clear about, from the start. Then maybe this whole mess wouldn’t have happened.”

“Maybe not.”

She looked at Robert.

“I did what I did because I am me.” His profile was neither angry nor sad. Just tired.

“Me, too,” said Lyanna.

They looked at each other and there was, Lyanna thought, for the first time something akin to understanding that transpired between them.

“I don’t ask for anything, Robert,” she said quietly. “Punish me how you like. I deserve it. But it was me who did you wrong, not my family, and certainly not my babe.” She raised her chin again. “You do not owe me anything, but if you ever did love me as you always have said, you will spare me the bloodshed of any more innocents. There has been enough of that.”

Robert just looked at her.

“Your child is Rhaegar’s heir, Lyanna. And I have a rally of supporters outside these doors ready to crown me king.”

She was calm. “If you do any harm to my child you will have to kill me first with your bare hands. I swear it.”

Robert reached up his hand. She waited for the strike or the blow.

But he only touched a lock of her hair, so lightly she barely felt it.

“I can’t keep you here with me,” he said.

It was a cross between a question and a statement.

“No,” said Lyanna. “I—”

 _I am sorry_ , she almost said, but from Robert’s expression she knew he did not want to hear this. That this would only be the cruelest blow, on top of everything else.

“Don’t let me see you again, Lya.”

Those were his last words to her, and this was perhaps the best ending for both of them.

She looked back before leaving.

“Goodbye, Robert.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> (I imagine Robert would give up the crown, in this situation. Knowing Lyanna does not love him takes everything from him. He’d be in no mood to rule a kingdom even if he “won” the throne, and he’s Robert Baratheon, he does what he wants. So…there’s probably a power squabble but I sort of imagine Stannis taking the throne… Of course this assumes Rhaella dies, and Targaryen supporters are too weak to back Viserys who’s a little boy. Whatever, politics.)


End file.
